Section on Five Movements and Six Qi

Chen MengleiJul 2024

2.8

Word count: 186K words
Chapters: 12

Summary

Traditional Chinese thought and culture have a long history and are highly original, inventive, and literary. Early forms of thought have distinctive features: religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and the Hundred Schools of Thought, feng shui and metaphysics, the Twenty-Four Histories, and customs and local gazetteers are all profound and extensive. This series, "Essential Classics of Chinese Traditional Culture: Original Texts," preserves the appearance of the original books and focuses on preserving and disseminating traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers can cultivate their temperament and subtly appreciate Chinese classics.

Editor's review

Yunqi Men is included in the series "Essential Classics of Chinese Traditional Culture: Original Texts." Its value lies not in offering some quick-to-master mnemonic for divination arts, but in presenting traditional discussions of timing, fate, and the advance and retreat of human life in a form close to the original book for modern readers. The book's highlight is that it preserves the original appearance, letting readers come directly into contact with the feel and argumentative style of ancient texts rather than a heavily rewritten popular paraphrase. In reading, one can both sense the complex traditional understanding of "fortune" and "fate" and, through the original compilation, appreciate the ancients' ways of thinking. It is suitable as extended reading after an introduction to Chinese classics, and also for readers interested in traditional divination culture and folk beliefs to browse as reference material. Because the content emphasizes the presentation of original texts, it is advisable to read it alongside annotated editions or related reference books; one need not aim to finish it in one go but can read at leisure and savor it repeatedly.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in traditional divination culture and notions of fortune who wish to encounter original texts
Readers with some foundation in Chinese classics who want to broaden their understanding of traditional thought
Readers who like to collect and browse documents in their original form for reference
Readers who wish to use the ancients' reflections on timing to adjust themselves amid a fast-paced life

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic practical tutorial on divination arts or usable predictive methods
Beginners with no experience in reading classical Chinese who need sentence-by-sentence vernacular explanations
Readers who only want story-driven popular books and lack patience for the presentation of original texts

Reading tips

First read the table of contents and the preface and postscript to understand the book's structure, then choose pieces related to the theme of "fortune and qi."
Keep a dictionary of common classical Chinese characters on hand; look up unfamiliar terms before reading, and do not insist on fully understanding every passage.
Read only a small section each time; afterward, jot down your understanding in two or three sentences and return to it after a while.
Read alongside similar original classics of Chinese thought and compare how different texts express timing and fate.

版权信息
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十一
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十二
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十三
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十四
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十五
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十六
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十七
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十八
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百十九
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百二十
古今图书集成医部全录卷一百二十一

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no foundation in classical Chinese?

It is not very suitable for readers with zero foundation to read straight through. The book emphasizes preserving the original appearance and contains much classical Chinese; without annotations, the threshold for understanding is rather high. It is advisable first to read introductory books on Chinese classics with vernacular translation and annotation, then approach such original texts, or read them alongside other annotated editions.

Is "Yunqi Men" about fortune-telling and prediction?

Judging from the materials, this book belongs to a series of original texts on traditional thought and culture and involves traditional divination, metaphysics, and related ideas, but it cannot simply be equated with a modern fortune-telling manual. Readers should treat it as a document of traditional concepts, focusing on the ancients' ways of thinking and cultural context rather than seeking specific predictive conclusions.

Does this book need to be read in order from beginning to end?

No. Such original texts are better suited to selective reading and repeated browsing. You can first skim the table of contents, pick pieces of interest, skip parts you do not understand for the time being, and return to them later. Treating reading as long-term immersion is more effective than reading it all at once.

What distinguishes this book from others in the same series?

It belongs to the same series, "Essential Classics of Chinese Traditional Culture: Original Texts," whose common features are preserving the original appearance and focusing on disseminating traditional thought and culture. The specific difference lies in the different original texts selected and the themes emphasized. This book centers on "fortune and qi" and related traditional concepts and can be read in comparison with other titles in the series.

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About the author

Chen Menglei Author · China · 1651–1741

Chen Menglei (1651–1741), courtesy names Zizhen and Shengzhai, later styled the Old Man of Songhe, was a Qing dynasty scholar from Houguan, Fujian. He passed the imperial examination in the ninth year of the Kangxi reign and was appointed to the Hanlin Academy as a compiler. After 1698, by imperial order, he tutored the third prince, Yinzhii, and took the opportunity to compile a vast classified encyclopedia, the Hui Bian, using the collection of the Xieyi Hall; the Kangxi Emperor later bestowed on it the title Gujin Tushu Jicheng. The library holds more than 410 of his works, mostly sections of the officialdom chapters of that encyclopedia, covering institutions such as the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the Imperial Observatory, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, prefectural governors, the Transmission Office, and the Imperial Medical Academy. These works address ancient bureaucratic systems, ritual norms, and administrative practice. His compilations are distinguished by systematic classification and extensive citation, preserving a wealth of source materials for later generations; they are commonly categorized under culture and Eastern philosophy. As public information on his life is limited, this note confines itself to his known scholarly contributions.